The Goracle Speaks

“While it’s important that people change their light bulbs, it’s even more important that we change the laws.”

–Al Gore, discussing the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act now being debated in the Senate.

The Goracle Speaks

“While it’s important that people change their light bulbs, it’s even more important that we change the laws.”

–Al Gore, discussing the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act now being debated in the Senate.

Gore’s Climate Solutions Fund Worth $683 Million

The Financial Times reports:

The investment vehicle headed by Al Gore has closed a new $683m fund to invest in early-stage environmental companies and has mounted a robust defence of green investing.

The Climate Solutions Fund will be one of the biggest in the growing market for investment funds with an environmental slant.

The fund’s co-chair, David Blood, points out the new fund was able to raise all this green despite the recent hiccups in the global economy:

Mr Blood said raising $683m for the new fund in the midst of “market disruption” showed the resilience of green investing. “The fact we were able to raise $683m was extraordinary, so our experience is that it has not really been a problem [raising funds despite what is] generally a difficult environment,” he told the Financial Times.

“A fear expressed by some is that the first thing to go in a downturn is the nice-to-have sort of investment. Some people put green investments in that category, but we think that is nonsense. This is not nice-to-have – it is fundamental finance…because the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy is a ginormous step that is going to happen quickly,” he said.

And Al Gore has put his money where his mouth is in a “ginormous” way:

Both Mr Gore and Mr Blood had invested in the new fund to a “pretty sizeable” extent, Mr Blood said.

I wonder if any of this cash will go to financing green energy bloggers…here’s to hoping!

Gore’s Climate Solutions Fund Worth $683 Million

The Financial Times reports:

The investment vehicle headed by Al Gore has closed a new $683m fund to invest in early-stage environmental companies and has mounted a robust defence of green investing.

The Climate Solutions Fund will be one of the biggest in the growing market for investment funds with an environmental slant.

The fund’s co-chair, David Blood, points out the new fund was able to raise all this green despite the recent hiccups in the global economy:

Mr Blood said raising $683m for the new fund in the midst of “market disruption” showed the resilience of green investing. “The fact we were able to raise $683m was extraordinary, so our experience is that it has not really been a problem [raising funds despite what is] generally a difficult environment,” he told the Financial Times.

“A fear expressed by some is that the first thing to go in a downturn is the nice-to-have sort of investment. Some people put green investments in that category, but we think that is nonsense. This is not nice-to-have – it is fundamental finance…because the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy is a ginormous step that is going to happen quickly,” he said.

And Al Gore has put his money where his mouth is in a “ginormous” way:

Both Mr Gore and Mr Blood had invested in the new fund to a “pretty sizeable” extent, Mr Blood said.

I wonder if any of this cash will go to financing green energy bloggers…here’s to hoping!

Gore Slams Climate Deniers

Al Gore took a hard swipe at climate deniers during an interview for 60 Minutes:

You’re talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat. … That demeans them a little bit, but it’s not that far off.

The more important news is the big Alliance for Climate Protection campaign he’s helping to fund:

Gore’s campaign to make the world more aware of man’s role in global warming won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year. He donated the $750,000 prize money to The Alliance for Climate Protection, the non-profit he started to help him on his quest. He and his wife, Tipper, tell Stahl they not only matched the Nobel money with their own, but they are also donating to the organization the significant profits from his book and Oscar-winning documentary film about global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth.” The funds will help The Alliance for Climate Protection execute a new $300 million ad campaign on global warming set to start next week.

Some of the ads will feature unlikely alliances to drive home the message that people of all stripes are concerned about global warming. These include the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Pat Robertson, Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks, and Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich.

Toby Keith and Dixie Chicks, coming together over climate change?  How can the country not take notice?

The Goreacle: Where is climate change in 2008 election?

At the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference, Al Gore pointed out that climate change hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves in the 2008 campaign:

Gore took solace in the fact that leading Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama along with the Republican Party’s all-but-certain nominee John McCain are promising “leadership” regarding climate change.

Global warming has been given minimal attention in presidential debates, which have ironically been sponsored by “something with an Orwellian label” of Clean Coal, Gore observed.

ThinkProgress has been covering the coal industry’s sponsorship of the presidential debates.  Bottom line: It’s a pretty convenient coincidence that no climate change questions have been asked at these coal-sponsored debates.  And Gore’s right to call attention to this fact.

More from the Goreacle:

“As important as it is to change the light bulbs, it is more important to change the laws,” Gore told an elite gathering of scientists, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and Internet superstars.

“We have to become incredibly active as citizens in our democracy. In order to solve the climate crisis we have to solve the democracy crisis, and we have one.” […]

“We have to stop this, and the truth is we can,” Gore said. “We have the technology. If we just had one week’s worth of what we spend on the Iraq war we could be well on our way to solving this challenge.”